Catholics leaning on faith after sex abuse documents released



MILWAUKEE (WITI) -- With Monday's release of thousands of documents detailing the Catholic church's sex abuse scandal, many Milwaukee-area Catholics were emotional.

“I’m sure there are a lot of horrifying incidents described in the documents," Mark Schuh said.

Schuh is a Catholic who works at Catholic Books & Gifts. He sees Monday's document release as an important step for the Catholic church.

“I hope that the release of the documents might perhaps even deepen trust in the Catholic church, or at least perhaps reestablish trust or strengthen trust in the church leaders," Schuh said.

Catholic Maureen Borges said she agrees it is beneficial that the documents were released, but says dealing with the issue of clergy sex abuse is difficult.

"You feel 'oh what did I do wrong? Or how could this happen?' Here you’re believing in the goodness of the Lord and having people loving and this thing happens and it’s very, very, hurtful. And it doesn’t make you feel really good," Borges said.

Both Borges and Schuh say they have concerns about the health of the church moving forward.

“I hope that it does not weaken the faith of people because our faith is in the church that Christ established, despite the failures, as bad as they might be, of particular members," Schuh said.

“You have to always, in any trial, carry on and trust in the Lord and hope that everything goes for the best," Borges said.

Borges says that in times like these, many will remain quiet on the issue until they have confidence and see good things happen. Then, they'll speak.

Many Catholics in the Milwaukee-area say they would like to see justice for those who were wronged.